Transcript

NT intervention will smash culture, say Aboriginal leaders

The World Today - Tuesday, 7 August , 2007 12:10:00

Reporter: Alexandra Kirk

ELEANOR HALL: But first today, a delegation of Aboriginal leaders from the Northern Territory is in Canberra this lunchtime, pleading for the Federal Government to delay its intervention legislation, warning that it will smash their culture to smithereens.

The Indigenous leaders have travelled to the national capital to ask the Prime Minister, John Howard, and the Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, to meet them.

The Government is introducing its 500 pages of legislation today and says it wants the three bills passed by the House of Representatives by tonight.

But while there's been general political support for the Commonwealth intervention to deal with the child abuse problem in the Territory, the legislation overrides the Racial Discrimination Act and there are also concerns about the "just terms" compensation the Government has promised to traditional owners, as Alexandra Kirk reports from Canberra.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Government is moving full steam ahead with three bills to back its intervention in the Northern Territory. Six weeks ago it announced the Commonwealth takeover to stamp out child sex abuse in Indigenous communities. Having finished drafting the legislation on Sunday, it wants the House of Representatives to vote today.

A group of Indigenous leaders has arrived at Federal Parliament calling on MPs to reject the legislation.

John Ah Kit is a former leader of the Northern Land Council and a former Northern Territory MP.

JOHN AH KIT: We're here to present a letter to the Prime Minister, John Howard, telling him why this bill shouldn't go through Parliament this week, or even today.

We will be lobbying as much as possible and as hard as possible, because this week will see our culture being smashed to smithereens.

What's happening today is unacceptable, it's irresponsible, it's unreasonable and it's something that we're not going to just sit on one side and allow our rights to be attacked.

This is about the beginning of the end of Aboriginal culture. It is, in some ways, genocide. What is being pushed through Parliament in the next couple of days is something that will go down in history as one of the bleakest days in the history of this country.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, who's promising to vote against all the bills, has accused the Government of sidelining Parliament. He says it's ramming the legislation through because it commands a majority in both houses.

BOB BROWN: This Parliament is being abused by the Government in a way I've never seen before in the ramming through of more than 500 pages of legislation, with no inquiry, no scrutiny, no reference to 21 million Australians, no reference to the Indigenous Australians, and it is a complete abuse of the Parliamentary system. And I ask the Government members, more than a hundred of them, which of you have read this legislation before you vote on it? I bet the Prime Minister hasn't.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Opposition is still giving its in-principle bipartisan support, though there's some disquiet in Labor's ranks.

Indigenous Affairs Spokeswoman Jenny Macklin is most critical of the Government for its haste, saying Labor was given the legislation less than 24 hours ago.

JENNY MACKLIN: I think it is arrogant of the Government to present the legislation to the Opposition one day before they expect it through the House of Representatives. That is not the way to make good policy.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, says the bills should be passed without delay.

MAL BROUGH: Everything we have put out here has been here for the last six weeks. Nothing that we have outlined is new, it is all just the detail which gives expression to what the Prime Minister and I have already put into the marketplace.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The coordinator of the Aboriginal Organisations of the Territory, Olga Havnen, says Indigenous leaders are opposed to the Racial Discrimination Act being overridden, along with the Government's plan to provide unrestricted access to communities by ending the permit system.

She says there are currently no impediments to the Commonwealth's ability to intervene or provide the services that it's promising. And she regards as "a dangerous precedent" the plan to acquire Indigenous land without paying monetary compensation. Olga Havnen says providing extra services and infrastructure, in kind, is not compensation.

Minister Mal Brough defends the plan to exempt the bills from the Racial Discrimination Act.

MAL BROUGH: This is a special interest measure to ensure that these children are protected.

The measures that are outlined in these bills come from Aboriginal women, about saying that the money that comes from welfare is actually buying grog and buying drugs which leads to abuse of their children, please stop it. We're doing that.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Labor's Jenny Macklin says she does have some concerns about the legislation. After addressing the Caucus, the Labor Party has now decided to put three amendments - one on the permit system, another for a 12-month review of the effect of the legislation, and a third calls for the legislation to conform with the Racial Discrimination Act. If they don't go through, Labor says it will vote with the Government to support the legislation.

ELEANOR HALL: Alexandra Kirk reporting.

Related Audio:

Govt NT intervention will smash culture, Aboriginal delegation says

A group of Aboriginal leaders from the Northern Territory is in Canberra pleading for the Federal Government to delay its intervention legislation, warning that it will smash their culture to smithereens.